Skegness: Man denies seaside park rape charge

The attack is said to have happened in Skegness's Tower Gardens

A man accused of raping a woman in a Skegness park would not take no for an answer, a court has heard.

Saad Gomaa, 34, is alleged to have attacked the woman in Tower Gardens on the evening of 9 June.

Prosecutors told Lincoln Crown Court she had drunk two bottles of vodka and was in "no fit state" to consent to anything.

The jury heard claims it was the woman who had initiated sex. Mr Gomaa denies rape.

The court heard Mr Gomaa was already in the park when the complainant came in at about 22:15 BST.

She had travelled to Skegness by train and was drunk, the court was told.

Clive Stockwell KC, prosecuting, said much of the lead up to the incident was caught on CCTV, with footage showing Mr Gomaa and the complainant sitting on a park bench.

"She recalls moving from the bench area to a bushed area where there was no CCTV coverage," Mr Stockwell told the court.

It was there she began to panic, telling the defendant she did not want to have sex with him, the jury heard.

"She told him she was on her period as a way of trying to desist him," Mr Mr Stockwell said.

"The prosecution case is at that time she was in no fit state to want or agree to sexual intercourse," he added.

'Distressed'

CCTV also showed the woman making a 999 call to police.

"It wasn't too long after that call the police found her. She was in a very drunk and distressed state at that time," Mr Stockwell said.

The defendant was arrested in a nearby nightclub and interviewed with an Arabic interpreter.

Mr Stockwell said Mr Gomaa agreed that it was him in the park and that sexual intercourse had taken place, but claimed the woman had fully consented.

However, Mr Stockwell said it was the prosecution's case that "this was rape, pure and simple".

The trial continues.